Oct. 4, 2006

Champaign, Ill. -

Complete Games Notes in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

ILLINOIS AT A GLANCE

Illinois (11-3, 2-2) at Michigan St. (10-4, 1-3)
When: Oct. 6, 6 p.m.
Where: Jenison Fieldhouse, East Lansing, Mich. Radio: WDWS Radio (Steve Layman & Kevin Martinez) Series Notes: Illinois leads the all-time series, 35-20...The Illini have won five of the past six matches, including both meetings last year. More on last year's meetings: Illinois topped Michigan State in five games in East Lansing. Rachel VanMeter had 25 kills for the match, which was as close as any could be with every game decided by two points until the fifth game (28-30, 31-29, 30-32, 15-12). The Illini hit .346 in the decisive fifth game. More on Michigan State: Michigan St. is 10-4 and 1-3 in the Big Ten. Three of the four losses are to teams that are ranked. Katie Johnson, one of the nation's leaders in kills last year, is No. 21 coming into the weekend this year with 4.81 kills per game.

Illinois (11-3, 2-2) at Michigan (13-4, 0-4)
When: Oct. 8, 1 p.m.
Where: Cliff Kean Arena, Ann Arbor, Mich.
Radio: WDWS Radio (Dave Loane & Kevin Martinez)
Series Notes: Illinois leads the all-time series, 35-15....The Illini are 11-9 under Don Hardin and have won five of the last seven meetings.
More on last year's meetings: Michigan had one of its most dominant performances last year in Ann Arbor, wining 30-20, 30-25, 30-19. The Wolverines hit .400. Illinois avenged the loss in Champaign with a 24-30, 30-15, 30-24, 30-24 victory. The Illini had 13 blocks to slow down the Michigan attack. The Wolverines hit -.026 in game two after belting .353 in the opening game.

More on Michigan: Michigan finished the pre-conference schedule 13-0, which included a victory over No. 20 San Diego. The Wolverines were ranked in the top 25 at No. 22 prior to the Big Ten season. In the 13 victories, Michigan lost just two games. The Wolverines are 0-4 in Big Ten play, including two five-game home losses to Indiana and No. 11 Purdue. Katie Bruzdzinski leads Michigan with 263 kills. Her 4.61 kills per game ranks her 30th in the nation.

Bazzetta named Big Ten Player of the Week: Lizzie Bazzetta has been named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week following Illinois' victories over Northwestern and Iowa last week.
•With 690 assists in 14 matches, she is on pace to average the most assists per game by an Illini setter since the NCAA went to rally scoring.
•With 59 assists and 23 digs in the four-game victory over Iowa, Bazzetta posted her sixth double-double of the season which matches her six she had all of last season.
• Bazzetta had 41 assists and a .911 setting percentage, her second highest percentage of the year against Northwestern. She played a major role in the Illini hitting for a season-best .336.
• In addition to her 690 assists, Bazzetta is second on the team with 135 digs. She is on pace to become the first Illini since Carolien Dikhoff in 1995 to have 1,500 assists and 300 digs in the same season. She has topped the 60-assist plateau three times this year as well.

Bazzetta ranks second nationally in assists: Lizzie Bazzetta moved into second nationally in assists at 13.80 per game. She ranks behind only Courtney Thompson of fifth-ranked Washington at 14.44 per game. Three Big Ten players rank in the top 15, including Allison Ianni of Michigan State, whom the Illini play on Friday. Ianni ranks seventh (13.33) while Rachel Hartmann of Minnesota is 15th (13.12).

Brown, Turner among nation's best: The Batman and Robin duo of Vicki Brown and Kayani Turner are also listed among the nation's best Brown ranks 24th in attack percentage at .395, while Turner is 24th in kills at 4.76 per game.
• As a team, Illinois is 26th nationally in assists (15.02) and 29th in kills per game (16.12).
• Turner has especially been on a tear of late. In the last six matches, Turner has 115 kills in 21 games at 5.47 kills per game. She had 25 kills vs. the College of Charleston and 23 kills vs. Iowa.

Illinois serving prowess returns: Illinois began the year on a tear in serving. The Illini had 15 aces and just eight service errors vs. UW-Milwaukee. Illinois was in double digits in aces in four of the first six matches. The Illini had 37 aces in the next six matches. Last week, however Illinois had 18 aces and 17 errors in victories over Northwestern and Iowa.

Layman moving on: Illinois volleyball play-by-play voice and analyst Steve Layman is making his final road trip with Illinois volleyball this weekend. Layman, a 2006 Illinois graduate has accepted a position as weekend sports anchor of Fox 23 (KOKI) in Tulsa, Okla. He'll be covering Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Tulsa, and Oral Roberts sports as well as the Class AA Tulsa Drillers baseball team. The area also also a hotbed for high school football and major golf tournaments. Layman began at WDWS in June, 2001 and has worked with Dave Loane and Illinois volleyball sports information contacts since 2002. He also has co-hosted Sports Talk with Steve Kelly and served as a voice for other Illinois athletics broadcasts. He'll make his final Illinois volleyball home appearance next weekend at Huff Hall.

Getting over the hump: Illinois played competitive volleyball in five of the six games, only to lose in three to Wisconsin and Minnesota. Against Wisconsin, Illinois led 14-10 in game one, 16-11 in game two, and 23-21 in game three. Against Minnesota, the Illini were up 16-14 in game one and 18-16 in game two.

Illinois reaches Stuff Huff goal thanks to large student section The Illini volleyball program set out to break 3,000 in attendance for the first round of the State Farm Illini Classic. The crowd of 3,129 was the largest since Nov. 6, 1993 when the Illini drew 3,161 vs. Minnesota. The crowd was also the first officially over 3,000 since Nov. 6, 1999 when 3,083 saw the Illini take on Penn State.
• Although no records are kept, the crowd was likely the largest student crowd in the history of Huff Hall. A total of 1,682 students used their student IDs to see the Illini take on ISU.

Vicki Brown earns two Tournament MVP honors: Vicki Brown earned the MVP honors at the State Farm Illini Classic after amassing 45 kills and nine blocks.
• Brown earned the same honor after hitting .514 at Marquette.
• Brown has had been in double digits in kills in each of the first six matches and has at least 15 kills in four of the first six.
• In the first match of the Marquette Kick-Off Tournament, Brown had 13 kills with no errors in 15 attempts during the final three games of the match for a .867 attack percentage. She hit .667 overall for the match and .514 for the tournament.

Bazzetta posts double-doubles:
Lizzie Bazzetta has five double doubles on the season. She also posted three straight matches with at least 60 assists -- vs. Wichita State, Charleston and Dayton.

Beth Vrdsky featured in Big Ten's 25th Anniversary Video
This year the Big?Ten is celebrating the 25th Anniversary of Big?Ten Women's Athletics. One of the components of the celebration is a PSA campaign titled "This is My Big Ten Story." The conference selected 11 athletes, one from each school, past or present.

Beth Vrdsky represents Illinois as she tells of her dream of becoming a fighter pilot. One of the top rated cadets in the University of Illinois' ROTC program, Vrdsky received one of a select group of invitation to the competitive Air Force Flight School. She will begin training following graduation next year.

Air Force ties: In March, Illinois junior Beth Vrdsky got the news she's been waiting most of her life to hear - she is one of the elite that has been selected into the Air Force Academy flight school. Ever since seeing the movie "Top Gun" as a youngster, Vrdsky has aspired to one day fly a fighter jet.

Vrdsky will finish her career both academically and athletically this season, and will leave for flight school to fulfill her dream. Vrdsky is one of 520 cadets selected into flight school out of all the ROTC programs nationwide. Illinois head coach Don Hardin, an Air Force veteran himself, was there to congratulate Vrdsky.